T h e y lie, in herds o f many hundreds, upon the ice ;■
i huddling one over the other lik e fw in e ; and roar or bray
v e ry lo u d ; fo that, in the night, or in fo g g y weather, th e y
gave us notice o f the vicinity o f the ice, before we could fe e
it. We never found the whole herd afleep ? fome being a lw
ay s upon the watch. Thefe, on the approach o f the boat,
wou ld w a k e th o fe next to th em ; and the alarm being thus
grad u ally communicated, the w h o le herd wou ld be aw a k e
prefen tly. But they were feldom in a hurry to ge t away, till
after they had been once fired at. T h en they would tumble
one over the other, into the fea, in the utmoft confufion.
And, i f we did not, at the firft difcharge, k i l l thofe we fired
at, we generally loft them, though mortally wounded*
T h e y did not appear to us to be that dangerous animal fome
authors have defcribed; not even when attacked. T h e y
are rather more fo, to appearance, than in reality. Vaft
n umbe rs.of them would follow, and come clofe up to the
boats. But the flalh o f a mufquet in the pan, or even the
bare pointmg o f one at them, would fend them down in an
inftant. The female wilL defend the youn g one to the very
laft, and at the expence o f her own life, whether in the wa-
“ I T ® the ice- Nor wil1 the youn g one quit the dam,
- though fhe B e dead; fb that, i f you k ill one, you are fure o f
the other. T he dam, when in the water, holds the yourn*
one hetween her fore-fins.
Mr. Pennant, in his Syvopfu ^ uadr. p . j L j has giyen ]
ve ry good defcnption o f this animal under the name o f
Artiic Walrus ; but I have no where feen a go od drawing
Cook wrotvhis’ I #
pi m fore, refer the reader to the A rctic Zoology, N°
Of
o f one. W h y they ihould be called fea-horfes, is hard to
fa y ; unlefs the word be a corruption o f . the Ruffian name
Morfi-, fo r they have not the leaft refemblance o f a horfe.
T h is is, without doubt, the fame animal that is found in
•the Gulph o f St. Lawrence, and there called Sea-cow. It is
certainly more lik e a cow than a h o r fe ; but this likenefs
confifts m nothing but the fnout. In fliort, it is an anim
a l lik e a f e a l ; but incomparably larger. T h e dimenand
wei£ht o f one , which was none o f the lareeft
were as fo llow s : -
L en g th from the fnout to the tail - . ^
Length o f the neck, from the fnout to the 1
ihoulder-bone . _ S' a 6
Height o f the Ihoulder - . s Q
L en g th o f the fins } Fore ' * - 2 4
tH in d - - - 2 6
Breadth o f the fins
Snout
Fore - -
^.Hind - - - 2
I 2-1-
Q
Si
{Breadth - _ _ o r *
C Depth - .
* 3 ’
Circumference o f the neck clofe to the ears - 2 7
Circumference o f the body at the ihoulder - 7 1 0
Circumference near the hind fins s (,
From the fnout to the eyes - - 0 7
W e igh t o f the carcafe, without the J
head, ikin , or entrails f
8 5 4
Head - - . - . - 4i±
Skin - - - - 205
I could not find out what thefe animals feed upon. There
was nothing in the maws o f thofe we killed.
3 N 2 | I t